“I WANTED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANT TO BE BLACK IN CANADA AND TO LOCATE MYSELF ON THE CANADIAN LANDSCAPE AS A PERSON OF AFRICAN DESCENT BORN IN CANADA.”


more about your ancestors, those who’ve gone before you, and what they’ve accom- plished, it’s empowering! If you’re envision- ing something for yourself, it doesn’t look so impossible when others before you have accomplished so much. Understanding their hardships and the obstacles they faced and overcame helps students see better futures for themselves and believe in themselves. I will give you an example. As part of the


preparation for a Black History Month as- sembly, a teacher for a grade 2 class devel- oped a script for her students to present in first-person as various African Canadians, past and present. I suggested the focus on Blacks in Canada because there is always this tendency to teach about African Ameri-


22 ETFO VOICE | SPRING 2016


cans in Canadian classrooms, disregarding the rich, storied history that Blacks have here. The students dressed up in role, and presented their lines speaking as the person they were assigned, for instance, “I am Har- riet Tubman,” “I am George Dixon,” “I am Elijah McCoy,” or “I am Viola Desmond.” They went on to share a few of that person’s challenges and accomplishments. They con- nected with the narratives they learned about and presented so well that even today, four years later, many of those students remember the person with a sense of pride and accom- plishment. African Canadian students don’t always get the chance to see these images, these historical connections to themselves, particularly within the Canadian context. As


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52